In The Woods Somewhere - The Books Of Beginning AU

5. Devil's Bargain

The girl, Abigail, took them deeper into the woods before leading the way through a misty thicket. Even through the haze, Kate and Gabriel could tell the shrubbery was so dense, it should be impossible to clear it without a hacksaw or something of the like. Yet the plants moved around them obediently, responding to a gentle touch of Abigail's outstretched fingers. It had to be her power as a dryad, Kate thought, and were she not consumed with thoughts of her siblings and Screechers and those odd bones, she would have smiled in wonder.

"Once we're on the other side of this, we'll be in Loris," Abigail called over her shoulder. "You ready?"

It didn't matter if they were ready. What mattered was finding Michael and Emma as soon as possible, then bringing them back home. 

"Yeah," Kate said. "Let's go."

Abigail hummed happily and continued pushing through the foliage. She was so carefree that it made Kate's heart ache. How she wished she could feel so at ease, tucked safe at home with her godfather and siblings, watching one of the overdramatic slasher movies Emma so enjoyed. Gabriel could snack on popcorn, Emma could throw popcorn at Michael when he began to nervously babble over the film, as he was wont to do, and Kate could burrow into the blankets and drift into an unencumbered sleep. But that was just a fantasy, one she could not afford to dwell on. She had to stay in the here and now, no matter how disturbing it was.

The dryad girl pushed through a final curtain of pine-needle laden branches, Kate and Gabriel at her heels. The three emerged from the misty thicket into a clearing, one that started out narrow but which they could see grew wider and wider. 

"Welcome to Loris," Abigail declared proudly, sweeping her arm dramatically towards the open space. 

The grass was green and soft here, not in a state of winter decay as it was in Cambridge Falls. The air was clean and fresh-smelling, with no hint of the usual detritus stench of the forest. The temperature was mild, cool and pleasant rather than cold, even with a light breeze rustling the trees surrounding them, trees that were chock-full of leaves in every verdant shade of green. Loris, it seemed, was brimming with life.

"Pretty, ain't it," Abigail remarked, a grin curling on her face. 

"Yes," Gabriel acknowledged. Kate nodded in agreement. The surrounding greenery was beautiful, and shockingly peaceful. She wasn't sure what she had been expecting from a world of magic that had stolen her siblings away, but this was decidedly not it.

"Not all of it looks like this, of course," the girl said, starting down the open path. "There are different parts, some more mountainous, some more like plains, some with plants a lot stranger than these. But this part is like your neck of the woods, only better."

"You make this place sound very big," Gabriel observed.

"'Course it's big. It's a whole other world. What, did you think it only existed tucked in your little mountain range?" She questioned.

"I don't think anyone in town truly knows the nature of this place," Kate admitted diplomatically.

Abigail sighed. "Go figure. Well, anyways, Loris, it ain't part of the human world, not really. It's separate, though close. Like we're neighbors, I guess. An' there are entrances, some permanent, some shifting. Your Cambridge Falls is right next to one a' those entrances, the one we just came through. It's one a' the permanent ones, leads right from your world to this place in mine."

"And where is this place in yours?" Gabriel wondered.

Abigail shrugged and gave a little spin. "The best part, 'course. The heart of it."

And then she broke into a run, forcing Kate and Gabriel to quicken their steps in hopes of keeping up. Fortunately, the terrain here was gentle, sloping lazily. They were able to ascend a ridge with ease, and then begin descending a large (but not at all steep) hill.